Garfunkel Lives!

It's nice of ol' Art to keep reminding us that he is still plugging away.

Singer Art Garfunkel, who pleaded guilty last year to pot possession in upstate New York, was charged again Sunday after a marijuana cigarette was allegedly found in the ashtray of his car, state police said.

What I want to know is: do they even make cars anymore with ashtrays?

Finders Keepers!

How do you know if it counts as looting or not? Easy!

Heh.

Yeah, Copernicus Was Alright, But Have You Heard Of Anaximander?

Yeah, that's right: 20% of adult americans think the Sun revolves around the Earth. This article, courtesy of boingboing, is pretty nutsy. It's about this guy who does science surveys and all the sorts of depressing things people don't know about science. I suppose it doesn't really matter to most people what molecules are, or that there's something called "DNA" that affects "heredity" (more than 2/3 of Americans). So I guess, you know, go about your business, people. It's just kind of shocking.

But, and the article makes this point too, these people get to vote! And they get to vote on issues like "should we allow stem cell research." If you don't know what a molecule is, or what DNA is, how the plup are you going to know what a stem cell is or whether it is good or bad? Saints preserve us.

Forgive me, this is ranting - yes, I do believe in "democracy"; I'm not trying to be elitist, I guess I just wish the education system in this country could at least pass out a card that says "the Earth (here) revolves around the Sun (shiny flying thing)," maybe at graduation or something. Print it on the back of the diploma, I dunno. Either that or we're going to have to really start thinking about Plato's Republic again. Get us some philosopher kings up in "he-ah."

This article is also good, about how Creationism - ahem, Intelligent Design - sux0rz. Apparently it is by a "philosopher," which you don't see too much of these days. Very refreshing.



Copernicus Is Not Amused.

Anaximander, for those of you who didn't take Pre-Socratic Philosophy in college (I can't imagine why not), had this to say about the whole contraversy (kindly paraphrased by wikipedia):

Out of the vague and limitless body there sprung a central mass — this earth of ours, cylindrical in shape, poised equidistant from surrounding orbs of fire, which had originally clung to it like the bark round a tree, until their continuity was severed, and they parted into several wheel-shaped and fire-filled bubbles of air.

Sounds about right. Of course, he had an excuse - he was born in 610 BC.

My Computer Used To Be Named "TJ"

This past weekend, the lady and I took a trip to that most Holy Of Shrines, the Jefferson Memorial. Enclosed are some pictures.

As you may or may not know, I have an unabashed love affair with Jefferson, or as I like to call him, "The Sage of Monticello." (Not really). He and Robert E. Lee are probably my two favorite dead people in the world. They are certainly the only two people who lived lives so sweet and buttery that I literally cried while reading their biographies.

But I had never been to the Jefferson Memorial before, mainly because there is a giant stinking cesspool of water in between it and the rest of the monument collection in DC. Little did I know that some industrious fellow had invented bridges, and then had the good sense to put one across the tidal basin (as I understand it is called). So the lady and I took a trip, and she took lots of pictures of me grinning stupidly in front of ol' TJ.



Before TJ, we went to Teddy Roosevelt Island. Now I have never been a big fan of Teddy, but mostly because that time period is kind of boring for me, and also because I feel like if I had met him in real life, he would beat me up. But Maura took this picture because "it sounds like something you would say." I dunno.



On the thrilling approach. My heart is in my mouth, and if you look closely, you can see where I have wet myself, just a little bit in anticipation and out of respect.



The Statue.



A little bust in the basement. The basement museum is actually pretty nice, although the gift shop kind of sucks. They have all kind of biographies about how Jefferson owned and had sex with SLAVES. I wonder if they have books like those about George Washington in his monument?


In conclusion, I got goosebumps, but I didnt cry. A+.